PAX Aeroportos will begin operating São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro’s principal general aviation airports—Campo de Marte (SBMT) and Jacarepaguá (SBJR)—in the month after LABACE 2023. The airports were won at an auction last year by investment firm XP Investimentos, which created the PAX subsidiary to maintain, operate, and expand the airports during the 30-year concessions.
According to PAX Aeroportos, it has studied not only the initial contract obligations but also current and future operational needs, to plan investments, including evaluating upgrading both airports’ operating categories, with the goal of making them “the best executive aviation and offshore airports in Brazil.”
PAX CEO Rogério Prado said that both airports will be upgraded to enable day and night non-precision approaches for code 2B aircraft, which include the ATR-42 and the Bombardier CRJ-200, and to handle aircraft with greater wingspans. The airports will also be equipped with PAPI systems and infrastructure and systems improvements to expand offshore operations and attract new general and executive aviation operators.
“In Jacarepaguá, the intention is to prepare the unit for a potential increase in the offshore extraction market in the Santos Basin, where the unit has a strategic position to receive large helicopters that transport workers in this industry,” Prado said. Offshore currently represents 30 percent of SBJR movements.
The formerly sleepy neighborhood of Jacarepaguá Airport is centrally located in Barra da Tijuca, one of Rio’s fastest-growing areas, and its residents are separated from the city’s other airports by monumental hills and equally monumental traffic, which can take longer to navigate than the flight from São Paulo.
“We also intend to expand the service of regional flights that recently started operating in Jacarepaguá,” Prado said, referring to Azul Conecta's seven daily flights by Cessna 208 Grand Caravan single-engine turboprop aircraft between Campo de Marte and Jacarepaguá. He said the operation has been well received and has a high occupancy rate and that “we are going to talk to the company to see the market possibilities for expanding these flights.”
PAX will also present a plan to expand the use of Jacarepaguá’s available commercial areas, which are large underused lots fronting busy avenues.
Of the two, Campo de Marte has more operational restrictions, as traffic patterns for its 4,594-by-148-foot runway are close to those of Guarulhos International Airport. This requires more study and care in the implementation of instrument approaches. “Currently, Campo de Marte, on days of adverse weather conditions, is restricted or even closed, and with new investments, larger aircraft will be able to operate even under more critical visibility and ceiling conditions,” said Prado.
In the same airport auction, Spanish company Aena won the concession for Congonhas, and it is no secret that the airport’s vocation for short and medium-haul commercial air transport is among the new administrator's priorities. Theoretically, upcoming changes would expel executive aviation companies, which have extensive maintenance and hangarage installations at Congonhas.
PAX Aeroportos is preparing to welcome companies that choose Campo de Marte as their new base. Prado claimed that the concessionaire is interested in talking to everyone who wants to bring their hangars and operations to Marte and has already begun contacting potential new partners. “After our investments, naturally, the airport will be attractive to customers who are at other airports, not just Congonhas," he said.
One project that brings enthusiasm to PAX is the development of areas for eVTOLs aircraft. Several manufacturers around the world intend to see their projects enter service in the next two to three years, among them Brazil’s Embraer. “We also want to be prepared for this type of operation,” Prado said.
How does PAX Aeroportos expect users to find the pair of airports in five or 10 years? “Our proposal is for us to be the best executive aviation operators in Brazil in the coming years," he said. "For this, we’ve searched the market for professionals with experience in aviation and airport concessions. I can say that people who know Campo de Marte and Jacarepaguá today will be surprised by our operations, in a very short time, to become the best executive aviation and offshore airports in Brazil.”